24 August 2009

Poster makeovers?

Trinny and SusannahAt Mind the Gap, Jennifer Rohn mentions a title that set my mind ablaze with possibilities:

Science PR: do we need a Trinny and Susanna for scientists?

Not sure why the link in the Mind the Gap post doesn’t lead to a post with that title, but no matter.

I’d heard about this duo Trinny and Susanna before as the original What Not To Wear team in the UK, and as the inspiration for robots in Doctor Who (below), before finally seeing them in Making Over America last Friday. And I can see why they are so popular: They’re good at what they do.

I wouldn’t want to do what Trinny and Susannah do for scientists’ dress sense. But I would love to take their approach for scientific presentations. I would love to go to a big conference like Neuroscience, find posters that just makes you go, “This is not helping!” and take the presenter through the whole cathartic process of critiquing and rebuilding the poster from the ground up.

I don’t think it would make great television, but it just might work as a social event at a conference, if done with humour and with the right format.

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